More Solar for "Us"
Ok, I went off.the deep end? Bought 3 used 37watt uni-solar panels and a blue sky 2000e controller for the hefty price of $400, They were being listed as 75w panels, they are not The tested open...
Forum Discussion
Hi BFL13,
You have to decide what the solar is intended to do. If it is for between trip maintenance then 12.5 watts per 100 amp-hours and a plain jane controller will "do the deed" and with sufficient time between trips every one will start with the battery bank bursting full.
In your case that could be done with a 45 watt system from Canuck tire for under $200.00. Or the one's at Home Depot or Costco.
Hells bells, my old system had 30 watts for 250 amp-hours of batteries--and they lasted well over 8 years. If the new owner had not messed up last fall--I fully expect they would have still been working for him.
He managed to toast both cabin batteries and both start batteries. *sigh*
Fuel prices in Canada have reached the point where a fill up for my RV is over $200.00--so I don't see that four tanks of gas is too much to spend on solar.
I do know this. Anyone who adds solar to their RV seems to wonder afterwards why they did not do it sooner. Some of them also wonder why they didn't plan for more panels, too.
You have to decide what the solar is intended to do. If it is for between trip maintenance then 12.5 watts per 100 amp-hours and a plain jane controller will "do the deed" and with sufficient time between trips every one will start with the battery bank bursting full.
In your case that could be done with a 45 watt system from Canuck tire for under $200.00. Or the one's at Home Depot or Costco.
Hells bells, my old system had 30 watts for 250 amp-hours of batteries--and they lasted well over 8 years. If the new owner had not messed up last fall--I fully expect they would have still been working for him.
He managed to toast both cabin batteries and both start batteries. *sigh*
Fuel prices in Canada have reached the point where a fill up for my RV is over $200.00--so I don't see that four tanks of gas is too much to spend on solar.
I do know this. Anyone who adds solar to their RV seems to wonder afterwards why they did not do it sooner. Some of them also wonder why they didn't plan for more panels, too.
